


The Other Side of the Fence

by SeeMaree



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, The Sandlot (1993)
Genre: F/M, Hunger Games/Sandlot Crossover, In Panem AU, Pre-Hunger Games
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-01
Updated: 2015-05-11
Packaged: 2018-03-26 15:19:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3855481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeeMaree/pseuds/SeeMaree
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Twelve year old Peeta has no real friends, he expects to spend his summer drawing and working at his family bakery.  That all changes when he gathers the courage to follow Katniss under the fence.  </p>
<p>This is part of the Movie Everlark Challenge.  An in Panem AU, based on The Sandlot, this is my idea of what could've happened if Peeta and Katniss became friends at age twelve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It’s already stiflingly hot in the bakery kitchen, and it’s only nine in the morning. The heat from the ovens, so welcome in the winter, leaves them all limp and soaked in the summer months. 

Peeta looks up when he hears his seventeen year old brother stumbling sleepily down the stairs, his curly blonde hair standing out from his head in all directions. 

As far as Peeta is concerned the guy is an idiot. Last week he made a deal with the two younger brothers. It seemed being a baker was cutting into his social life, so for the rest of the summer Dayvid agreed to take all the day shifts, if Peeta and Tomas will be on early. In practical terms it means Dayvid will spend the hottest part of the day, of the hottest days of the year in front of giant ovens. Just so he can go out with his girlfriend every night, and sleep in every morning. Idiot. 

It also means that by 9am Peeta is free. He does have to get up at 3am, but it’s worth it to be able to bake in the cool predawn hours for the morning rush, rather than bake all afternoon for the evening customers. 

The only problem is that he has no where to go. He could go upstairs to the room he shares with his two brothers, but it’ll be even hotter up there. He’s thinking about going outside to sit in the cool shade of the apple tree, when he hears a knock on the back door.

Peeta knows who it is without looking. It’s her. Katniss. She and her friend Gale, have a squirrel to sell, just like they have almost every morning lately. Peeta does his best to focus on the paper in front of him, instead of staring at her. But when they leave he can’t help watching through the window as they walk down the street. Peeta has seen them around together a lot lately. He is not jealous. 

She looks better, healthier. He can still remember how scared he was when he saw her sitting in the rain. He had thought she was dead, until she moved. She’d taken the bread and run off fast enough though. And now she’s going out to the woods. Peeta knows, because he’s spied on her and Gale slipping through the fence. They think they’re being sneaky, but Peeta can be sneaky too. He longs to follow them. Whatever they do out there has got to be more exciting than anything else that happens around here.

He probably doesn’t need to be sneaky. Katniss and Gale are too busy doing important things to ever notice him. Nobody notices Peeta Mellark much. He may have every single summer day free, but he has nothing do with them. Tomas has lots of plans with his friends, but Peeta expects he’ll be spending the next few months just hanging around the bakery. It’s not so bad. His dad lets him help with the cakes.

“Peeta, why are you still here?” His father’s voice cuts into his thoughts. He starts guiltily, hoping his father didn’t see the direction his eyes had gone. 

“I was working on the design for the toasting cake. I want it to be perfect.” Peeta’s father has recently given him his first solo order. The bride is the daughter of a mine foreman, so unlike most seam folk they can afford a decorated cake, but only a fairly plain one. Peeta’s father had offered them a discount on something much more elaborate, if they agreed to Peeta decorating it. They had looked at him doubtfully. He could see what they were thinking. Is it really worth it to buy a cake made by a twelve year old? But when he had shyly shown them the cookies he had decorated that morning they had agreed. It’s a big responsibility, and something he takes very seriously.

His father sighs and sits down next to him at the table. “Peeta, that order isn’t due for weeks. It’s the summer. Go outside and have some fun with your friends.” That’s the problem. Peeta doesn’t have any friends. He knows plenty of kids to wave and say hi, but he’s never been able to put himself forward enough to go beyond that. His eyes drift back to where he can see Katniss and Gale disappear down a side street. His father interprets the look as longing to get outdoors, so he cheerfully stuffs some day old rolls into a bag, hands it to Peeta to “share with your friends,” and tells him he doesn’t want to see him before dinner. Peeta nervously glances across at his mother. Surely she doesn’t approve of this. But she gives him a short nod. Him hanging around is probably annoying her. 

He can’t go and sit under the apple tree now. It would be embarrassing. So he puts away his notebook, takes the paper bag, and leaves.

At loss for how to spend the day, he wanders to the meadow near the fence. When he hears voices of other children approaching he hides himself behind a bush. He knows it’s stupid. Other kids shouldn’t make him so nervous. This dumb shyness is why he has no friends, but he can’t seem to make himself go back out. Especially when he realises it’s Katniss, her little sister, and the Hawthorne boys. 

The older two are complaining about having to take the ‘kids’ along, as they all climb under the fence and disappear into the woods.

Katniss and Gale just took little kids into the woods. The woods that are so dangerous the Capitol had to build a fence to protect everyone. 

How dangerous is it? Really? Peeta is shaking a bit as he slides under the fence, but they took a six year old out there with them. Surely Peeta is tough enough to handle it. He stands and stares at the tree line for a moment, knowing that he shouldn’t delay here where he’s still visible from inside the fence, but still he hesitates to enter. Peeta doubts that this is what his father had in mind when he sent him off to ‘have some fun’.

Katniss does this every day. And she’s a lot smaller and weaker than him. He ignores the little voice telling him she’s capable of killing things, and pushes into the underbrush.

Once he’s past the initial wall of trees, the space opens up, and he gasps in wonder. He’s never seen so much variety. District Twelve is plain and drab and sooty, but this is a different world. It is alive with so many shades of green and there is a sort of echoing silence, yet he can hear the sounds of birds and insects. He bends to examine the tiny blossoms on a bush, wishing he had brought his sketchbook with him, he will next time. A rustling behind him makes Peeta startle, how could he forget the dangerous creatures he’s been warned about? He spins around to face what ever wild animal is ready to attack him. He trips on a root and falls onto his butt.

“Oh, it’s just Peeta Mellark,” Katniss says, lowering her bow. She has a bow and arrows? Peeta is so amazed and fascinated that he almost doesn’t notice that Gale Hawthorne doesn’t lower his knife. 

“Who?” Gale grunts instead. Katniss waves a hand dismissively.

“He’s in my class. He’s okay.” Peeta feels himself flushing as he scrambles awkwardly to his feet. Katniss thinks he’s okay?

“He’s a merchant!” Gale hisses. “You think it’s okay to bring a merchant out here?” 

“I didn’t bring him,” Katniss replies, her voice getting louder. “All I said is that he’s okay. He’s not going to turn us in,” she looks toward Peeta, addressing him for the first time, “are you?”

Peeta shakes his head vigorously. Gale lowers his weapon with obvious reluctance.

“What are you doing out here?” Katniss asks, after a moment. Peeta shrugs uncomfortably, embarrassed to admit that he has nowhere else to go. 

“I don’t know, I always wanted to see what it’s like out here, and when I saw you with all the little kids, I just thought that it must not be so dangerous. I didn’t mean to bother you.” 

“Well you’ve seen it now, so go back where you came from, townie.” Gale says. Katniss looks a bit uncomfortable, but aside from a guilty glance at Peeta, she doesn’t react to Gale’s harsh words. 

Peeta wonders if he should just go, but he looks around again. It’s beautiful, and cool, and it’s so peaceful. He doesn’t know where the courage comes from, Gale looks like thunder, and angry people terrify him, but he can’t let this go. He shakes his head, and tries to look tough.

“I think I’ll stay here, but you don’t have to worry about me. I’ll leave you alone.” Katniss and Gale are already shaking their heads. 

“It really can get dangerous,” Katniss tells him, “there are packs of wild dogs that could tear you apart in a second.” That image is something he didn’t need in his head. He feels a bit dizzy. Gale must see it because he jumps in.

“I doubt you could fight them off,” he smirks, “you don’t even have a weapon.” 

“I have a weapon,” Peeta says, fumbling in his pocket for his prized possession, a pocket knife. He’s not helpless, and he’s not going to let them scare him off. Not after he’s seen all this. 

Gale snatches it from his hands before he has a chance to react. “Not exactly prepared to defend yourself, are you?” he smirks. He turns his attention to the knife, and his expression changes. “This is nice, where did you get it?” Peeta tries to stand straighter, look taller, or even slightly intimidating, but it’s pointless, Gale towers over him.

“My aunt gave it to me, she’s the butcher, and I help in her shop sometimes.” Gale has opened the blade and is running his fingers across it. He whistles.

“This is sharp. Does she sharpen it for you?” Peeta puffs up a little with pride.

“I do that. I’m the best at sharpening knives, Aunt Rooba always has me do it.” Actually it’s all she let’s him do. It’s supposed to be the worst job, the one they make the newest apprentice take before they ever cut a piece of meat, but Gale Hawthorne doesn’t need to know that.

“Prove it,” is all Gale says, offering his knife. Peeta passes the bag of bread to Katniss and takes the knife. It’s clearly hand made, the handle is wood, simply carved into a smooth curved shape, and the blade looks like a piece of scrap metal, probably scrounged from the junkyard, or the mines. He runs his finger across the edge. It’s very blunt, the edge feels more like a butter knife than a tool for carving up animals. The metal in his pocket knife blade is special, and stays sharp, but even made out of scrap, surely this knife can hold a better edge than this?

“What’s this?” Katniss asks. Peeta glances at her, she’s holding the bag of bread gingerly, as if it’s contaminated.

“Oh it’s just some stale bread, have some.” Peeta says, his attention returning to the knife. If only he had his whetstone he could show Gale that he can be useful to them.

“We don’t have anything to trade,” she says, and her voice wavers a little. Peeta becomes aware of the wide eyed stares on the faces of the little ones.

“It’s not for trade, my dad gave me that to share with my friends,” she’s already moving to hand it back, so he rushes to add, “if you guys let me stay out here with you, that would make you my friends right?” Katniss gives him an intent look. Does she know that he has no friends?

“Are you trying to bribe us?” Gale is smirking. Peeta grins back, glad to look away from Katniss.

“Maybe.” 

“Okay.” He snatches the bag from Katniss and throws a roll to each of the younger kids. “What?” he asks, when Katniss scowls at him, “I’m fine with him paying us to be his friends.” It’s a joke, surely, but it’s too close to the truth. Peeta wonders if that’s why his dad gave him that bread, so he could bribe some kids to be his friends. 

Gale passes Katniss half a roll, and stuffs the rest into his bag, and leans against a tree. The whole incident seems to have warmed him toward Peeta considerably. 

“So, about this sharpening thing. Do you really know what you’re doing?” Peeta tries to look as nonchalant as Gale does.

“I know I could make this knife a lot sharper, if I had a stone, and oil. I could go home and get them maybe,” except he’d have to go to the butcher shop for that, and come up with a reason why he needed to take off with the whetstone instead of sharpening his knife there, like he always does. Gale produces a pouch from his pocket, and shows Peeta the stone and bottle of oil inside.

“Is this what you need?” The tools are improvised, the stone looks like a chunk of sandstone, nothing like the manufactured rectangle his aunt has, and the oil was probably designed for mine machinery, but Peeta takes them and lodging the stone against a tree root, he gets to work. Both Katniss and Gale stand over him, watching him carefully. It makes it hard to focus. 

“This knife, it’s really blunt, so it’s going to take a while.” Please stop staring. Gale grunts and wanders over to the where the younger ones are sitting, nibbling on the bread rolls. They talk for a moment, and then the group of them are walking away. 

Katniss kneels down beside him, and Peeta’s breath catches. He’s alone in the woods, with Katniss Everdeen, and she’s looking at him like he’s interesting, special even. Well, watching his hands sharpening a knife, but close enough. The silence between them lasts so long, and Peeta can’t think of a thing to say. Maybe he’s not supposed to talk. He noticed that she and Gale had kept their voices soft, even when the were arguing they went from whispers to low voices. Perhaps if they’re loud it will draw the attention of a bear or something.

“You do know what you’re doing,” she finally says, and she sounds impressed. Peeta tries not to grin too proudly. 

“Of course. Did you think I was lying? Why don’t you know how to do this?” Her eyes turn away, and he regrets the question.

“I just never learned, okay?” 

“Oh, well I can show you, and I can sharpen all of your blades if you want.” She rewards him with a small smile. Peeta can’t believe that he has a skill that Katniss is impressed with. An idea forms, perhaps he can make a deal with her?

By the time Gale and the little ones arrive back, Katniss is well into her first lesson. Peeta is distracted by the bucket of odd green curlicues that they’re carrying. He plucks one up, fascinated by the shape.

“What is it?” he asks in wonder. One morning out here and he’s already seen so many new things. Gale looks at him oddly.

“You’ve never eaten fern? No wonder you’re so little.” Peeta flushes with embarrassment. He’s not that small. It’s just that Gale is a giant, and two years older. But, if eating this plant could make him grow faster... 

Gale has lost interest in the ferns, and is examining his knife. “I guess he can stay,” he says, sounding authoritative. Katniss rolls her eyes.

“I already told him that. Peeta’s going to teach me to sharpen knives, and watch the little kids every morning, so we can get stuff done. I’m gonna teach him to gather greens and berries and stuff.” She eyes Gale as if she expects him to challenge her. She had been reluctant to agree, but from the way she’s acting you’d think it was all her idea. 

Gale glares at them both.

“Fine, but if I hear that you talked to anyone about this, you’re done.”

Peeta has trouble sleeping that night, he’s too excited about everything. He has friends! Or at least people willing to let him hang around. And tomorrow he’s going to see Katniss and she’s going to smile and talk to him. Best of all he doesn’t have to spend the summer trying to pretend he has places to go, because he does have a place to go. The best place in District 12. The woods.

When his father wakes him at three it doesn’t seem quite as exciting. And of course it’s the morning his mother decides to ask him about the toasting cake. Peeta knows that she and his father argued about whether he was old enough for the responsibility. His mother expects him to mess up. She always does. When she demands to see his design he knows he’s in trouble. 

He has no design yet, just some random sketches. When sees that she starts in on him. He’s too tired to handle this. Lately he’s been able to talk her around and not get hit, but not today. He’s left sitting on the floor, ears ringing, and face throbbing. He tries not to cry, but it’s hard. It hurts, and he is so angry and frustrated. Perhaps he should stay home today. It will placate his mother if he comes up with some sort of completed design. And he could avoid Gale and Katniss seeing what his mother did to his face.

“What happened to you?” He looks up to see Katniss standing at the back door, squirrel in hand, wide eyed and staring. Too late to hide, but at least she’s alone.

“Peeta’s fine, he just had a little accident earlier,” his father cuts between them, blocking her view of him. His father is always eager to protect him after the beating. The feeling churning in his stomach, it’s the same confusing mix of gratitude and anger that he often feels toward his father, and now it’s overlaid with shame that Katniss saw him looking so pathetic. When she’s gone his father turns toward him with an overeager smile, and eyes that won’t quite meet his. 

“I think you’ve earned an early day, why don’t you head off now? Your brother and I have got this covered.”

Katniss yanks him to the side the moment he steps out the door, she must have been waiting for him. She doesn’t say a word until they are under the fence and alone. She pulls him closer, running her fingers around his black eye. I would feel good if his face didn’t hurt so much. She leads him deeper into the woods, stopping finally at a small stream. She takes a rag from her bag, and wets it in the water. 

“Put this on it. Snow is better, but the water is cold enough.” Peeta silently holds the wet cloth to his face. The coolness feels wonderful. He sits on a rock beside the stream, and Katniss sits beside him. “When it stops feeling cool, wet it again.” He nods, feeling small and embarrassed. So much for impressing her, now all she must see is a weak little boy who’s a disappointment to everyone. 

“Was it because of me?” she whispers, as he refreshes the cloth in the water. He looks at her, confused.

“What do you mean?” 

“This,” she gestures toward his face, not quite meeting his eyes. “Was this because of me, because you were with me yesterday?” Her hands clench in her lap. “I don’t want you getting hurt again because of me.” He knows he shouldn’t ask, but-

“Again?”

“Are you going to make me say it? Fine,” she snaps, “you saved me that night, when you threw the bread, and I know she hit you for it. I saw the bruise on your face the next day, and still I never, I never even said thank-” she cuts herself off with a sob, turning her body away from him. He made her cry, because he’s stupid, and now doesn’t know what to do.

“I’m sorry, please don’t cry. I don’t care about thanks, I swear, I didn’t expect anything, I just didn’t want you to be hungry.” He puts his hand on her back, ready to snatch it back if she pulls away at all. But she doesn’t, so he lets it lie there. “And anyway, letting me come out here with you, teaching me stuff, it’s better than any dumb thank you.” She turns her head and gives him a watery smile, and he feels triumphant, but then the corners of her mouth turn down again.

“Not if it means you’re getting hit because of it.” 

“I’m not. I promise.” She eyes him skeptically, so he’s forced to tell her everything, about the cake, and his mother, and it’s strange. He’s never actually talked out loud, to anyone, about the way his mother treats him. People either know, or they don’t want to hear. But Katniss listens quietly, and so he talks and talks.

“She’s wrong,” Katniss says, finally. “You’re going to make a beautiful cake.” She takes his sketch book and starts flipping through it. “What do you think you’re going to put on it? Flowers?” 

“Definitely flowers. Leticia, she’s the bride, said she loves flowers. And I had this idea,” he hesitates, feeling shy, but Katniss nods encouragingly, “I know most flowers come in the spring, and they’re gone by now, so I wanted to look around out here and find something that’ll still be flowering on the wedding day,” Katniss’ is shaking her head and he feels foolish. “I knew it was a dumb idea.”

“No, it sounds nice. But, if the flowers are out here how will she ever see them? And how would you explain knowing about them?” Oh. He hadn’t thought about that. But then she grins. “Unless we dig it up and plant it in the meadow, and you can ‘find’ it growing there.” 

“We can do that?” Peeta asks doubtfully, it sounds complicated and risky. But Katniss smiles, confidently.

“Of course, my dad used to…” the smile drops from her face, “I’ve done it before, okay?” He nods vigorously, hoping she doesn’t start crying again.

“I’m sorry, I’m taking up all you time, you probably want to get hunting,” he says, hurriedly trying to change the subject. Katniss must be as eager as he is to be done with this conversation, because she leaps to her feet and leads him away from the stream. 

When he asks about the others she tells him that Gale has to stay and help his mother with the laundry on Wednesdays, and Prim decided to stay with the other kids, so it’s just the two of them. She quickly gets frustrated with his loud footsteps, and leaves him at a blackberry thicket with a bucket and a knife, instructing him to crawl under the bushes if he sees any large animals, and only use the knife to defend himself as a last resort. He feels embarrassed that she so clearly sees him as helpless, so he works diligently to sharpen the knife and then gather as many berries as possible. 

Katniss seems happier when she returns with a fat game bag, and she’s pleased with the amount of berries Peeta has picked. And then she drops a flower bud into his hand. He turns it over, it’s a brilliant shade of pink with pale pink stripes curving around it. Peeta has never seen anything like it.

“Do you know what it’s called?” he breathes. Katniss scrunches her nose. 

“It’s a rhoda, I think.” 

“I wonder what it looks like when it opens,” Peeta says, twirling it between his fingers. Katniss smirks and holds up an open flower. It’s beautiful, and perfect for the cake. 

 

As she leads him back where she found the rhoda plant, Peeta can’t help thinking about how amazing the last two days have been. Sure he got hit in the face, but he’s hanging out with Katniss Everdeen! As much as he’s watched her over the years he never thought she would ever want to spend time with him for real And now she’s helping him with his cake? Everything is better since he met her. 

When he glimpses the bright flowers through the trees he starts forward, but she grabs his hand and pulls him back.

“Wait! You need to be extra quiet, Victor’s Village is right through there.” Peeta looks and sees, instead of the chain link fence that surrounds the rest of the district, a high wall. It would be very bad to be caught doing something illegal here.

Peeta moves forward carefully, remembering how loud Katniss had accused him of being earlier. The flowers are growing right along the fence. Katniss silently produces a piece of metal that’s been filed to a point, and starts cutting into the soil around one of the smaller bushes. When Peeta kneels beside her she passes him a stick, keeping the better tool for herself.

As they’re freeing the ball of dirt there’s a loud thump from the other side of the fence. Peeta freezes and meets Katniss’ wide eyes. What was that? The only person with a right to be over there is Haymitch Abernathy, so is he stumbling around and banging into the fence? He wants to ask, but the look she gives him makes him stay silent. They quickly gather up the tools and the plant so they can tiptoe away.

When they’re a reasonable distance away, Peeta looks back. “How did you find those plants? Why were you that close to Victor’s Village?”

“Best place for onions, I was checking to see if any are ready to be harvested,” she gives him a thoughtful look, “I might send you there with the kids to gather some tomorrow,” she doesn’t add, ‘If I think you can be trusted,’ but he sees it in her face. He doesn’t care, because she said tomorrow. She still wants to see him tomorrow, even though he was loud, and wasted her time, and made her cry. 

“Okay, Yeah, I can do that. I can be here tomorrow.”


	2. Chapter 2

Replanting the rhoda in the meadow hadn’t quite worked out. When Peeta and Katniss got close to the meadow that afternoon, they could hear voices. Peeking through the trees they could see people hanging out, enjoying the sunshine, in one of the nicer spots in the district. They’d had to circle around and get under the fence behind some abandoned coal warehouses. There was no way they could quietly plant the bush with that crowd out, so they decided to meet up later.

Sneaking out at dusk isn’t hard when everyone in your house goes to sleep by eight. Peeta waits until he can hear his brother snoring from the other bed, and slips out. He tiptoes down the stairs with his boots in hand, and once he’s out the back door he sits down on the step to pull them on.

He feels a body slams into him, and knock him sideways. “Oooff. What-”

“What are you doing out here?” He looks up from the ground, to see his oldest brother.

“I ah, um, I’m going, um,” Peeta mumbles, and his brother laughs.

“Sneaking out eh? Is there a girl?” Peeta feels himself turning red, which is apparently explains everything, because Dayvid slaps him on the shoulder and grins. “I didn’t know you had it in you. Good for you. Don’t get caught on the way back in. Actually, how about this, be back here by nine thirty, and we’ll go up together.” Peeta nods, gaping, is his brother  _helping_ him? Dayvid gives him a wave and strolls off down the alley.

When Peeta reaches the street he’s surprised to see a lot of people around. Somehow he thought that everyone went to bed as early as his family. But that doesn’t make sense. Even the miners don’t start their shift until six. The Mellarks probably get up earlier than anyone else in the district. For the first time he understands why Dayvid wanted the hot daytime shift, because being out after dark feels exciting.

“Hi,” he feels a bump on his side and turns to see Katniss, she has slipped up beside him without him noticing.

“Hi,” he says back, feeling shy. They stand for a moment, eyes caught, until she glances away. “So, ah, do you have it?” he asks, mostly to say something. She nods and pats her bag. Peeta shuffles his feet, unsure of what to say next.

“Come on,” she says impatiently, grabbing his hand and tugging him along. But when they pass a group of teenagers standing on the corner Peeta finds himself looking into Dayvid’s startled blue eyes. Which get even wider when he sees the girl leading him. Peeta tries to turn his face away, but it’s too late.

“Who was that?” Katniss whispers, dropping his hand.

“My brother.”

“Is he going to tell?” Is he? Peeta doesn’t think so, not after helping him sneak out. But he knows he’s going to be demanding an explanation later. But Katniss doesn’t need to know all that, so he just shakes his head.

She doesn’t look entirely satisfied, but they continue on to the meadow. There are a few people around still, but no one pays attention to a couple of kids in the shadows, and they are able to plant the small bush in an out of the way corner.

“Do you think it’s going to be okay?” Peeta asks worriedly, looking at the sad, wilted looking plant. Katniss nods confidently.

“We got a big ball of dirt with it, and gave it water. If we water it every day it’ll be fine and flowering by the wedding day.”

Peeta feels himself relaxing. It’s been a long exciting day, and it’s cool out here, not like the oppressive heat of the rooms above the bakery. He lays back on the grass and he feels himself starting to drift off. Katniss nudges him.

“Don’t you have to get home?” He wishes he didn’t. He wants to lay here with Katniss, and watch the stars.

When he reaches his backdoor, Dayvid is waiting with a serious look on his face. He gives Peeta a nod, and sits down under the apple tree and Peeta follows, reluctantly. He’s exhausted, his face is throbbing, and he has to wake up in less than six hours. This is a bad time for his brother to become interested in him.

“What are you thinking kid? Are you crazy?”

“You didn’t seem to care I was sneaking out before.” Peeta is annoyed.

“That was before knew it was to see a seam girl, and not just any seam girl, it’s the little Everdeen. Do you know what mom would do to you if she found out? This,” he points to Peeta’s purpling face, “would be nothing. She seriously could kill you. That’s how bad it would be.”

“And how’s she going to know, if you don’t tell her,” Peeta mutters. His brother shakes his head.

“Stupid. How about all the people who saw you walk through town holding hands? I wanted to stop you then and there, but I didn’t want any of my friends to notice you. I admire your game, really, but you’ve got to think this through. Don’t walk around in public like that, in fact, don’t let anyone see you together. Okay?”

“Okay.” Peeta nods feeling resentful. He doesn’t know how Katniss will react to this. Will she think he’s ashamed to be friends with seam kids? Will she hate him?

“So. Want to sleep out here?”

“What?” Peeta is confused by the change of subject.

“When it’s hot like this, I sleep out here.” He produces some blankets from behind him and grins. “If they ask I’ll tell them your face was hurting and I brought you out here to cool down, and we fell asleep. Doesn’t hurt to lay on the guilt, Dad will give you food you can use to win over the girl.” Peeta smiles, reluctantly. Because it’s true. The worse his mother makes him suffer, the more his father tries to make it up to him.

They spread out the blankets and lay down. Dayvid is right. If you can ignore the smell of the pigs, it’s far more pleasant to sleep out here.

“What’s your girl’s name anyway? I can’t keep calling her Everdeen.”

“She’s not my girl,” Peeta admits grudgingly. He likes the sound of it, but if his brother said that to Katniss, it would be bad. Particularly because has to tell her that they can’t be seen together in public. Katniss is nobody's secret seam girl.

 

\------------------------------------

 

Peeta wakes to sun shining in his eyes and panics. It is so, so late, it must be at least six thirty, he should’ve been at work three hours ago. He’s alone, Dayvid is gone. Was all that stuff last night, acting like he cared just a trick to get him in more trouble? Getting him to fall asleep out here where no one would be able to find him, so he’d sleep through his shift?

He stumbles into the kitchen in a panic, but everything seems fine, bread cooling on the racks, his father and brothers moving around calmly.

“Hey,” Dayvid calls from the other side of the room. “I thought you needed the extra sleep, so I took your shift.” Peeta gapes at him until he winks with a nod toward their father. “You, know, with how you felt last night.” And Peeta remembers.

“Ah, yeah, it was much better outside in the cool. Thanks.”

“Want to take over here so I can grab a few extra hours of sleep?” Peeta nods, still feeling fuzzy.

Sure enough, as soon as the morning rush is done, Peeta’s father, who is still refusing to look at him directly, hands him a bag of broken cookies and sends him off to have fun with his friends.

Peeta wanders toward the meadow. He’s not sure how this is supposed to work. Does he wait here for the other kids to show up? What if they’ve already been and gone? But no. He’s relieved when he sees Gale sauntering toward him.

“Hey ‘friend’, what do you have today?” Peeta offers the bag wordlessly. Gale tries and fails to hide his smile when he looks inside. The younger kids squeal in delight when he hands them each a few pieces of cookie.

“Are you sure this is okay?” he asks, pausing in the act of shoving the paper bag into his satchel. Peeta nods.

“I ate already.” His dad, in full guilt mode, had loaded him up with ham and toast. “I brought that for you guys.” Katniss ignores the byplay and leads the way to the fence. She hasn’t even looked at him, and Peeta doesn’t know what he did wrong. Did his brother say something to her when she traded that morning?

After some debate Gale agrees to leave the three younger kids, and Peeta, picking onions. He’s feeling stupidly upset by Katniss’ continuing to ignore him, but then as Gale is sternly telling his brothers to keep their voices down, because of, the wall of victor’s village presumably, she touches his arm.

“Are you okay? I was worried, when you weren’t there this morning. I thought…” And the stomach clenching anxiety he’s been feeling melts away.

“My brother, he was covering for me, since I was up late. He was the one that saw us, he was waiting when I got home,” her eyes widen, and he rushes to add, “he didn’t tell, but he was worried. He thinks we shouldn’t let people see us together,” he trails off, looking for her reaction. He’s relieved when she doesn’t seem to be hurt or angry, but looks thoughtful. “I’m not ashamed to be seen with you, but-” and she nods.

“It’s better if your mother doesn't know we're friends. I don’t know why she hates me so much.” Peeta frowns. Doesn’t she know?

“I think it’s because you look so much like your mother. And you know, with what happened when they were young.” Peeta doesn’t know exactly what happened, but he knows that his father liked Katniss’ mother, maybe loved her, and as a result his own mother has a special hatred for Mrs Everdeen. Katniss mouth falls open and her eyes go wide.

“I don’t look anything like my mother! Look at me, I’m all seam. Prim’s the one that got the blonde hair.” Peeta feels the corner of his mouth tilt up. Doesn’t she ever look at herself? Her face is like a copy of her mother’s, overlaid with seam coloring. Apparently all Katniss manages to notice is the coloring. Perhaps that’s all she wants to notice.

“Yeah, well, she hates your mom, so she hates you too.” Katniss shakes her head at that, but doesn’t question him any further. Instead she turns and follows Gale into the woods, leaving Peeta with the stressful responsibility of three kids to keep safe.

He shouldn’t worry. Rory proudly shows off his sling shot, firing stones at several trees. Peeta is impressed. If wild animals attack Rory will probably be the one defending them. It makes Peeta feel much more relaxed. He gets working on pulling onions, carefully following Gale’s instructions about how many to take. They don’t want to pull them all and leave nothing for later, or to seed for next year.

“Peeta,” Rory whispers urgently, and Peeta freezes. He turns slowly expecting to see a cougar or a bear, but all he sees a pigeon, perched on a nearby branch. “Peeta,” he whispers again, “can you pass me my pebbles?” Peeta fumbles around and finds the small pouch, handing it to him, and watches in silence as Rory carefully loads his sling and aims. He’s amazed when, not only does the pebble hit the bird, it falls, apparently dead.

Rory grins at him exuberantly. “I did it! I’ve never hit anything before!” The other kids laugh as he dances around the clearing.  
“But, where did it go?” Vick asks, and they all stop to search the area. Finally Rory sighs.

“Must’ve gone over the fence, figures. Gale probably won’t even believe I hit anything.” He looks so dejected, Peeta goes to the fence and starts climbing. Surely if he’s quiet he can go over and get it. When he reaches the top he looks over, and, yes he can see the pigeon!

“No! No! Stop!” Peeta feels a tug on his leg, and sees Prim and Vick at the bottom. Rory has climbed up and is pulling on his leg.

“It’s okay, I see it and I can get it.” Rory looks horrified, and yanks on his leg so hard that Peeta tumbles down on top of him.

“What did you do that for! I was going to get the bird!” The kids drag him away from the wall, back toward the onion patch.

“Are you crazy? You can’t go over there. Not ever!” Peeta looks at their scared faces, feeling confused.

“I thought you wanted that bird.”

“Not that bad,” Rory shakes his head. “Not enough to get you killed.” It all seems a bit crazy to Peeta, but the other kids refuse to say any more.

He’s gathering up the onions that were abandoned in all the excitement, when Gale and Katniss show up.

Rory rushes to tell on him, and Gale and Katniss look shocked and angry.

“What were you thinking,” Katniss hisses gripping his arms so tightly it’s almost painful. “I trusted you to take care of my sister and you do this?”

“What’s the big deal? I know it’s Victor’s Village and all, but it’s just Haymitch Abernathy. He’s probably asleep, or drinking. I could’ve gotten Rory’s bird back.”

“What do you mean, just Haymitch?” Gale demands. “Don’t you know about The Beast?”

“The Beast?” he glances around at all their incredulous faces, “what’s The Beast?” Gale makes a sound of disgust and shoves him back toward the fence.

“Climb that tree, and look over, very carefully.”

Peeta is shaking a little as he clambers up the tree. Is this some sort of elaborate prank? But they all seem truly scared, particularly Katniss. She wouldn’t do this as a joke, would she? When he gets high enough he looks out over the fence. At first there’s nothing, and then he sees it. A huge dark shape moving around under the shadows of the trees.

He comes down too quickly banging his elbows and knees on the bark, and lands in a heap at the bottom.

“Did you see it?” Gale asks, offering him a hand up.

“Yeah. What is that?”

“That was The Beast.” Gale leads him back to the where the others wait anxiously.

“I thought you knew,” Katniss whispers, grabbing his hand and yanking him closer, “yesterday when we were here, I thought you understood.” Gale gives them a quizzical look, but doesn’t comment. Instead they silently head back around toward the meadow.

“The Beast.” Gale says, ominously, leaning back against a tree. They’re back in that same spot where he first met them a few days ago. “You want to know what it is?” Peeta nods, feeling a shivery feeling creeping over him. He sits back against a rock, and Katniss wriggles up next to him. Rory presses against him from the other side. It’s as if the two of them are guarding him. Prim and Vick range a bit away, picking herbs or something, clearly disinterested in the story, now the drama has passed.

 

_“A long time ago, when Haymitch first came home from the games, he was rich, and he gave people lots of stuff. Everyone was happy and things were great. But then something happened, no one knows what it was, but he got mean. And selfish. He stopped being nice, and kept all his good stuff for himself._

_“Everyone was mad. So when he went away to the games the next time they climbed the fence around the Village and broke into his house. He has so much food that it was stacked up in the hallways, and everything. So they took it._

_“When Haymitch got home he was really angry. He put locks on everything, but now that everyone knew how much good stuff he had in there people kept sneaking in and taking it. So the next year, in the games, there was this horrible mutt. It was, like, half gorilla, half bear, half dog. And it ripped six kids to pieces. After the games, Haymitch got it, and brought it home with him. He lets it roam around loose, and if it catches anyone but Haymitch in Victor’s Village? It eats them.”_

 

They all sit in silence, taking in the idea of a mutt, running freely around on the other side of the fence.

“Don’t the peacekeepers care?” Peeta ask in horror. Gale shrugs.

“As long as it doesn’t get out, why would they care if a few people get eaten every year?”

The whole story seems so crazy, like some sort of fairy tale, but he did see some sort of huge creature, and the others were really scared. And yes, Peeta is feeling scared too. Katniss bumps him with her elbow.

“Anything that goes over that fence is gone forever. Got it?” He nods. Gale stares at him for a moment, as if he thinks he’s lying and planning on jumping that fence at the first opportunity. But then he gives him a nod. He must be pleased with how much he’s been able to intimidate Peeta, because he gets up and goes over to Vick.

“Peeta,” says Rory from his other side, “I’m sorry I almost got you eaten.” He looks horribly sad, and Peeta feels a lurch of guilt for frightening him “Are we still friends?”

“Shut it,” Katniss says cutting in before Peeta can apologize, “I know you just want more bakery food.” Rory’s downcast face immediately switches to a sweet smile.

“Peeta are you still going to hang out with us and bring us cookies?” he asks, huge pleading eyes sparkling. Peeta laughs, and Katniss shoos him away.

“Is that story true? Or is Gale just trying to scare me?” Peeta asks her quietly. Katniss waves her hand dismissively.

“Does it matter? There’s a huge scary animal over there, you saw it. So it’s too dangerous to climb that fence. All I care about is that you never, ever try to get over there again.” She leans her shoulder against his. “I don’t like it when you get hurt, so just don’t.”

“You, you care if I get hurt?” he asks, even more softly.

“Yeah. You’re my friend, I need you to be safe. I can’t do it anymore. I can’t lose anyone else. You need to be careful.” They sit like that for a few minutes, but Gale keeps cutting them impatient looks, so with a sigh Katniss gets up and pulls Peeta up too. “Back to work.”

\-------------------------

All in all, despite almost getting eaten by a gorilla/bear/dog, it was a great day. His brother had acted like he cared, Gale was kind of warming up to him, the younger kids, particularly Rory, seemed to have accepted him, and Katniss Everdeen said he was her friend. Plus when he checked on the rhoda plant, to give it water, it looked like it was recovering from it’s transplanting and was going to be fine.

Peeta is on for close up, and Dayvid gives him looks, but they don’t talk much as they clean up the kitchen and set the dough to rise.

“You want to sleep outside again tonight?” Dayvid asks as they wash the last of the trays.

When Peeta steps out into the beautifully cool evening air, Dayvid is already sitting on the blankets next to the pig pen. He looks completely relaxed. Perhaps Peeta shouldn’t interrupt that, maybe he should go back upstairs to their still, hot, bedroom. But Dayvid glances up and waves him over. Peeta perches on the corner of the blanket, feeling uncomfortable. As much as he’s slept in the same room as his brother his entire life, he doesn’t know him very well. The five year age gap has separated them socially. And the Mellark family isn’t the kind that that gathers around the table for cheerful family dinners. Peeta and his brothers are essentially strangers. They don’t hang out. They barely even talk.

“Why do you want me here?” he asks, and feels immediately embarrassed. His brother is finally acting like he’s worth paying attention to and he’s questioning him on it.

“Can’t I spend some time with my brother?” he asks, sounding defensive. Peeta slouches down onto the blankets. He knew this whole thing was too good to be true.

“You haven’t wanted to before. You’re just gonna lecture me about Katniss again, aren’t you?” Dayvid sighs.

“Maybe a little. Why does it have to be her? Out of all the girls in the entire district she’s the one most likely to set mother off. Why can’t you date some safe merchant girl?”

Peeta crosses his arms and glares at his brother. He’s already said they’re not dating! And who does he think he is? Dayvid’s never been there when he needed someone, and yet now that he has the possibility of real friends his brother wants to butt in and tell him what to do. He thinks again about going back inside, away from his annoying brother. But that feels like quitting, and Peeta may be shy and cowardly, but he’s also stubborn.

He lays down and puts his back to his brother instead. Hopefully Dayvid will get the hint.

“Peeta. I’m sorry. I’m a jerk, I know.” That’s true enough to get Peeta to roll back over and look at him. “I just don’t want to see you ruin your life.”

“Katniss isn’t ruining my life,” he retorts, “she makes it better. She actually cares when I get hurt.” Guilt flashes onto Dayvid’s face for a moment.

“I’m sure she’s great and everything, but if you keep on with her you’re going to end up in the mines.”

“I’m going to end up there anyway.” Peeta’s mother taunts him with that idea regularly. As the youngest and least favored there aren’t a lot of other options. But Dayvid is shaking his head.

“No true. If anyone’s going to the mines it’s Tomas. I’m getting out, and you’re the one that’s going to get the bakery.” Peeta shakes his head, none of this makes any sense. Dayvid rolls onto his back and stares up at the sky.

“Can you keep a secret?” Peeta nods, but Dayvid’s not looking at him. He continues anyway, “I really am getting out. As soon as I have my last reaping I’m going to marry Rachel and apprentice to her father.”

“Why?” is all Peeta can say. He can’t imagine wanting to leave the bakery. Dayvid chuckles.

“I’m not like you. I don’t care about baking. I’d probably be okay with it, except for the parents. I just want to get away from them, you know?” Peeta does know. The bakery might be warm and smell delicious, but it was a cold harsh place to grow up. “You can’t tell anyone that, okay? I think dad has guessed, but he hasn’t asked, so I haven’t told him anything. I don’t think he wants to know, that way he can play dumb.” Peeta nods seriously. He has no desire to get anyone in trouble with his mother, even Dayvid, who’s always been her favorite.

“Anyway, Dad’s training you to take over. You’re his favorite, and you’ve got all the talent. I mean seriously, a solo toasting cake at twelve? I’ve still never done that. Once I’m gone I the bakery will be yours. Unless you screw up and make make mother hate you so much that she makes sure Tomas gets it, out of spite.”

Peeta. The one with talent? The one who’s going to inherit the bakery even though he’s the youngest, and the most useless and worthless of the three of them? Dayvid must be making fun of him. But he seems so calm and confident with his explanation.

“I don’t know why that means I can’t be friends with Katniss,” he finally says, his voice small and sad. Because he does know. Dayvid gives him a sympathetic look.

“I’m sorry. I wish I could fix this for you. But you know why.”

Peeta turns his back again. This time it’s to hide the tears that are leaking from his eyes. And he feels the anger growing, like fire in his stomach. It’s not fair. He should be able to have friends and a future. He will figure out a way to have both. He will not let her win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so enters The Beast! If you're familiar with the movie you should know to take Gale's story with a grain of salt, I had fun coming up with it though.
> 
> I've always been so curious about Peeta's relationship with his family, and this time around I am focusing more on his eldest brother. Hope you're enjoying him.
> 
> And thanks, again, to my beta smartalexy. I did play with this signifcantly after she gave it the all clear, so any errors are my own.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm keeping this at the G rating, but there is an offensive word used in this chapter. I generally don't like to use crude language, but I truly felt it was what the story called for in this scene. It will be only language of this kind in this story.

Peeta stays out of the woods the next morning. All the things his brother told him the night before are spinning through his head, and even though he hasn’t figured out a solution, he feels a new level of pressure to get this cake exactly right. 

So he spends the morning in the meadow, in front of the rhoda bush, which is looking healthier each day, sketching the flowers from every angle. He’s ready to take a break when the gang climbs back under the fence with loaded bags and pockets. 

When Gale casually asks him to come along as he trades Peeta is thrilled. He is feeling relatively confident that the others like him now, but Gale has been more suspicious.

Katniss gives him a look as she walks off with Vick and Prim to make her own trades, and Peeta wonders if she had wanted him to go with her. But she knows he’s not supposed to be seen with her. He wonders belatedly if he should avoid being seen with Gale too.

“So, you have a thing for Katniss eh?” Gale asks, and Peeta realizes he’s been staring after her for way too long. 

“What? No, I, mean, ah.” Peeta pauses for a moment and takes in Gale’s lopsided grin. “Would that bother you if I did? I mean I don’t, but if I did.” He asks cautiously. Gale shrugs, and leads Peeta down a back alley.

“No. Merchant kids treat seam girls like dirt, but you seem different.” 

“Yeah, yeah” Peeta mutters, “merchants are all horrible and selfish, and all seam people are wonderful and brave.” Gale looks confused. “Not everyone can be put into neat categories because of the color of their hair Gale.” Gale looks embarrassed.

“Sorry,” he mutters. “I know that, I do, it’s just hard when we're starving, and I already have more slips in than you ever will. You all seem to have it so good.” He eyes the fading bruises on Peeta’s face. “Although, I guess it’s not always as good as it seems to us.” 

“It’s the Capitol’s fault that this place is so awful, not the Merchants.” Peeta says without thinking. Gale silences him with an elbow and a glare. 

“Not here,” he hisses, “save it for the woods.” They both glance around to see if anyone overheard. No one is nearby. He shouldn’t have worried about being seen with Gale. The route they’ve taken is though all the alleys and shadowy places around town.

They round a corner and come out behind the Mayor’s house. The Mayor’s pretty daughter is sitting in the backyard reading a book.

“Anyway,” Peeta continues, pretending he didn’t just slip and say something dangerous, “you shouldn’t judge all merchant kids based on some jerks. There’s plenty of nice people in town. Like Madge,” he nods toward the girl. Gale humphs disbelievingly. “No, it’s true. You should ask Katniss. She’s friends with her. Madge is always nice to everyone, and look, your brother seems to like her.” Rory had run ahead as soon as they started down the alley, and now Peeta knows why. He’s leaning against the fence, staring dreamily at the girl. 

“Not again,” Gale groans. At the sound of their voices Madge’s head pops up, and she smiles at them. 

“Hi Gale, Peeta. Do you have some berries for us?” Gale nods silently, his face impassive. Madge’s smile falls a little, until she glances at Rory, who’s still looking at her like she’s all his dinners come at once. Her face lights up when he silently holds out a flower he must have picked for her in the woods. “Thank you,” she says, accepting the gift. Then her eyes cut back to Gale’s scowling face. “I’ll be right back,” she calls, turning away and going into the house.

Gale cuffs his brother on the back of his head. “Put your tongue back in your mouth, that girl may as well be from the moon, she so far out of reach.” Rory turns red and hangs his head, but he can’t hide his ear to ear grin. 

“Slumming with trash Mellark?” A voice calls from behind them, and Peeta freezes, he knows that voice. It’s Andy Jonstone. He’s a few years older, closer to Gale in age, but for some reason he’s always had a specific dislike of Peeta, and anytime they cross each other’s path he makes a point of showing it. Peeta turns slowly and his stomach drops with dread. Andy isn’t alone, five or six other boys range behind him, smirking. So much for his big speech about how great merchant kids can be. These boys are basically on the opposite end of the spectrum from nice. 

Gale straightens beside him. “The only trash I see here is you, Jonstone.” Peeta wants to groan. Does Gale want to start a fight? The two of them against seven? Is he crazy? 

“Yeah. You don’t want to start trouble with us,” comes a voice from his other side. Rory. Seriously? What is an eight year old going to do against boys almost double his age? The door bangs behind them, and Andy’s attention is momentarily pulled away. 

“Well, if it isn’t the pretty little Mayor’s daughter. Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe from this riffraff. Just go back inside until I’ve taken care of this mess.” Silence, and then Peeta hears the door bang again. 

“So much for her being one of the good ones,” Gale mutters, but Peeta doesn’t blame her. How would she help by staying there? 

Andy is cracking his knuckles threateningly, and Peeta wonders if they’ll leave him alone if he humiliates himself by puking. 

“Know what I think Hawthorne, I think you need to be taught some respect of your betters.” Andy says, moving closer to them. Great, so now Gale has drawn the bullies’ attention onto himself. 

“If only there was someone better than him here,” Peeta hears himself say. Stupid, stupid, stupid, why is he escalating this? But he can’t let them go after Gale just for backing him up. Peeta knows he’s the real target. And sure enough Andy’s attention swings back to Peeta. 

They have at most a few seconds before the bullies start swinging, and Peeta is thinking frantically, trying to come up with anything, any way that they can get out of this. Come on! He can talk his way out of trouble with his mother. These guys are nothing compared to her. There must be something he can do.

“You’re such a hero, coming at us seven to two,” he says, because at least he can try to keep Gale and Rory safe. “Three,” he corrects, when Rory makes an indignant noise. “I bet you’ll go home feeling extra brave for beating up a little kid.” Andy, pauses, studying him. 

“I don’t care about the kid, but you Mellark, you smug brat, thinking you’re better than us with your seam friends, you are getting your ass whipped.” And Peeta tries to feel tough. He is tough. He can take anything. He can face Andy Jonstone. 

“Fine. Then do that. You and me, and our friends stay out of it.” Andy looks flummoxed, but he nods slowly, surprise morphing slowly into smugness.

“Oh, yeah. I am so up for beating you down single handed. You think you’re so brave, protecting your little seam buddies? I’ll teach you.” And just like that the others draw back and Peeta finds himself standing in a circle of boys, just him and Andy. “I’ll even let you go first.” Andy adds, sounding so confident, and Peeta stares at him, trying to work up the courage to throw a punch. He doesn’t know if he can. Puking is is becoming more and more likely though. 

And then, of course it gets worse. He hears running footsteps and he turns, hoping against hope that it’s some adult coming to save him. Instead he sees Madge and Katniss, flushed and panting. Madge hadn’t gone inside to hide. She must have run straight out the front door to find Katniss. And now they’re both here to witness his humiliation. 

“Peeta?” Katniss pants, “what are you doing?” She looks frightened, and she’s trying to push through the circle, doesn’t she understand how fights work? But Gale grabs her and pulls her back. They're whispering to each other, but Peeta can’t hear very well past the blood pounding in his ears.

“Oh, oh, oh! It all makes sense now.” Andy is sneering at him, “getting a little seam action are you? Is that your little whore?” And Peeta isn’t even sure what happens. Because he goes from being unable to make a move to swinging as hard as he can at the boy’s face. 

For a moment Peeta feels an amazing rush, but then there’s a terrible crunching sound, and blood is spurting from the boy’s nose, and his fingers feel numb. Now he’s fairly sure he’s passed the ‘might puke’ line into ‘gonna puke’. He may cry too.

Andy is screaming and clutching his face, but he’s backing away, apparently Peeta has finished the fight with one punch.

“Keep it together for a few more minutes,” he hears Gale mutter from directly behind him. And then in a louder voice, “You don’t mess with us. Or our friends. Got it?” Andy, who’s crying now, nods, and disappears around a corner. Most of his friends follow him, with nervous glances over their shoulders. 

“You’re cool,” one last lingering kid tells Peeta, before he dashes around the corner after his friends. Rory slaps him on the back, bouncing around with his usual enthusiasm doubled. 

“That was so awesome, Peeta is so amazing. He ended that. Just pow, and he ended it.” he tells an amused looking Madge, swinging his fists to demonstrate. Peeta isn’t feeling the same level of excitement. He makes it over to the trash cans at the side of the alley before he loses his breakfast, and then slumps down against the wall, feeling dizzy, and trying to hold back tears.

“What is your problem?” Katniss is in his face, yelling. He doesn’t know what she’s angry about, and he feels too light headed to figure it out. 

“Give him a minute,” he hears Madge say, and then she’s pushing a cup of cool water into his hands. He smiles at her gratefully, and uses it to swish the vomit taste out of his mouth. Katniss stands in front of him, arms crossed, as he slowly drinks the rest.

“I don’t understand why you’re mad,” he finally says, and that’s all it takes to set her off.

“You don’t understand? That I don’t like being the ‘whore’ that boys fight over? You can’t get your head around that?” Her voice gets louder and louder, and Peeta is at a loss as to what to say. Luckily Gale steps in.

“Katniss. Just stop. You don’t get what was going on. That guy wanted a fight with Peeta, and he was going to do anything to make it happen. If Peeta hadn’t been willing to go one on one those guys would be beating on Rory right now. The fight had nothing to do with you. He just said that stuff about you to get him going. If that hadn’t worked he would’ve said something about Madge, or Rory or me.” Katniss deflates slightly at this, but she still glares at Peeta, like she knows this is all his fault somehow. 

“I don’t care. He had no right to talk about me like that,” she mutters. Madge giggles. 

“Well he’s not gonna do it again. I think Peeta broke his nose.” 

“Peeta’s going to be famous.” Rory puts in. And the fear that Peeta was feeling before the fight is nothing to the rush of terror now. What if this gets back to his mother? How could he have been so stupid as to let an insult to Katniss get to him? It must show on his face, because Katniss sighs and holds out her hand. Peeta looks at her, still feeling muzzy and confused until she gently takes the throbbing fist he has cradled against his body, and examines it. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, “I didn’t mean for any of that to happen, I just got mad when he talked about you like that.” And she gives him a sad smile.

“I’m sorry too.” She brushes her fingers over his knuckles. He could get used to the way she touches him when he’s hurt. He might ever start to like getting injured if it’s followed up with this affection. “Come on then. Let’s go dangle this in the stream. Can’t have your hand swelling up so you can’t bake,” she says, and it may be hell when he gets home, but at least Katniss isn’t angry anymore.

**************

The day started out great. A week had passed and the story of his fight seems to have vanished. Gale thinks that Andy swore his friends to secrecy due to embarrassment, and Katniss had shut Rory up with a threat of death, so Peeta has stopped worrying about it. He had finished his cake design that morning. When he’d shown his father, he had beamed and told him he had a gift. Even his mother had seemed grudgingly impressed. 

His black eye was finally gone, and the bruising on his knuckles was mostly better too. Peeta felt happy. He had the whole day ahead of him to spend in the woods with his really real friends. Of course he’d had a lot of best days recently. But today felt special. 

The specialness seems confirmed when Peeta ducks out the door after his shift and finds a flushed and excited Rory Hawthorne waiting for him in the alley. He babbles confusingly and all Peeta can make out is that Katniss had done something amazing, and that they need his help, right away! 

Peeta follows him quickly, and when they finally come out in a clearing he sees Katniss and Gale standing and arguing. On the ground is what looks like a large rock, but then he realises it’s a deer. He’s never seen a deer outside a picture book, but that’s definitely one. It even has the horns, or whatever they’re called. It’s enormous.

Katniss turns toward them and the scowl drops from her face. “Peeta!” she exclaims, “Look!” Her smile is huge but Gale hovers behind her looking sulky.

“Yeah, well it doesn’t do anyone much good unless we can get it to town, and butcher it, and sell it, and don’t get caught, and you know, have a perfect everything,” he grouses. Katniss shoves him. 

“That’s what Peeta’s here for,” and she gives Peeta a pleading look. “You can help, right?”

“Of course,” Peeta says, he doesn’t know what she wants him to do, but he’s willing. She turns to Gale and smirks.

“See?” she says. He rolls his eyes. 

“Ahh, what do you need me to do exactly?” Peeta asks, before they can start arguing again.

“Can you help us carry it back and talk to your aunt, to see if she’ll buy it like this? I don’t know how to cut it down properly, and I can’t take it into The Hob whole.” Peeta’s not sure what to say. Helping to carry it is fine, but his Aunt Rooba can be scary. And what if she says no? Will she report them? But Katniss looks so excited. He has to help.

“Why don’t we carry it back and then I can go talk to my aunt,” he offers. After a bit more discussion the others agree, no one wants to linger so long they attract predators and are forced to abandon the kill.

The deer is too heavy for them, even with the younger kids trying to help. Gale wants to gut it to lighten the weight, but Peeta stops him. His aunt always wants the goats she buys to be brought in whole. There are plenty of people happy to buy bones and organ meat. She uses the intestines for sausages, and the hide is worth money too. In the end they make a sled from branches and drag it behind them. They have to carry it the last distance after they maneuver it under the fence, and they are all gasping by the time they get it hidden in an abandoned building.

Peeta runs across town to the butcher shop, and finds his aunt hard at work in the back of her shop. Her apron is already spattered with blood. When she stops to take in Peeta’s breathless and blood smeared state he hesitates. 

“Did something happen?” she asks. She is his mother’s sister, and while she has never hit him, or even raised her voice toward him, the sisters share a certain lack of patience.

“My friend, she um, she has this, ah,” should he say deer? It’s going to be obvious if she buys it, and Rooba does like plain speaking. “She shot a deer, outside the fence. She wants to know if you want to buy it.” Rooba’s eyebrows shoot up. And she eyes him silently. Peeta knows better than to say more, and interrupt her thoughts.

“Little Everdeen?” Peeta nods, and his aunt whistles. How did she guess it was Katniss? Is gossip about them circulating after all? But her next words set him at ease. “Her daddy taught her better than I thought. Alright, let’s go.” And then, to Peeta’s surprise she wipes her knives off and packs them up, slinging them, along with some bags, over her shoulder. “Can’t be having her carry a deer across town.” she explains. “How is she bringing it in anyway?” 

“Gale and I helped her get it to the warehouses.” His aunt shakes her head a little.

“You be careful boy. If your mama hears that you’re going around with seam kids, and outside the fence, you know what will happen.” And she shakes her head again. Peeta knows, he knows! Why does everyone keep warning him, without offering any solutions?

He leads his aunt to the empty warehouse near the fence, where he and the others had carried the deer. They’re all there waiting, but Rooba dismisses everyone except Katniss and Peeta, saying that she doesn’t need a whole cluster of children watching her work. 

Katniss watches her carefully as she rapidly skins and guts the deer, and then begins to break it down into larger cuts that will fit into bags. Nothing is wasted, all the organs are carefully wrapped, and soon enough she has the two children carrying heavy bags to the butchery. Peeta freezes when he steps out into the alley and finds Andy Johnstone watching him. His nose is still bruised looking, and it has a bit of a twist in it now. Is he going to want revenge? But Andy just gives him a polite nod and keeps going. 

It takes a few hours, but finally the deer is all stored in the stone cool room behind the butcher shop. When Rooba unlocks her cash box and hands a stack of bills to Katniss her eyes widen, and shimmer and Peeta is afraid she’s going to cry. 

“Do you know what this means?” she whispers to Peeta, as they leave the butcher shop, “it means we’ll be okay. Even if the winter is really hard, we’ll be able to eat.” Tears now gone, her eyes sparkle. “This is the best day ever,” she adds, unknowingly echoing Peeta’s earlier thoughts.

She stops smiling when Peeta refuses to take any part of her earnings. How can he let her pay him when she just told him that this money is what’s going to keep her family alive? Gale feels no such qualms, happily accepting a share and declaring that he’s going home to give the money to his mother and then take the rest of the day off. Everyone scatters, leaving Katniss scowling at Peeta.

“If you won’t take the money at least let me do something for you.” Peeta thinks about it. He knows now that it will bother her if she can’t repay him some way. He doesn’t want her to start resenting him. So he asks for the one thing he’s wanted all along. Archery lessons.

She takes him to the clearing that the wild onions grow in, saying that it’s easier to practice there because of the space. Peeta is awful. His hands feel simultaneously too big and too small, and he can’t even hit the huge tree trunk that Katniss selects for a target. Feeling frustrated he shoves the bow back at Katniss and stomps away. Even Rory is a better shot. 

“Hey,” she says, coming to sit beside him under the shade of one of the larger trees, “don’t worry, I was bad too, it takes a lot of practice.” He shakes his head. He knows she’s being nice. She nudges him with her shoulder. “So what if you can’t shoot. You’re good at a lot of other stuff.”

“Like what?” he asks, disbelievingly. He’s pretty much a failure at everything. He’s heard his mother say it often enough. 

“You’re good at drawing, and making cakes, and helping the little kids, and, and,” but he’s shaking his head. He might be able to do that stuff, but it’s just boring things. He’s never going to be good at anything important. And then Katniss whispers, “you’re good at making things better for me.” He stares at her in disbelief. “What?” she asks, defensively. “You are! You know how bad this year has been for me. But things are always better with you around. From the first moment when you gave me the bread, until today when you helped with the deer. You make everything better.” She looks down, shy suddenly. “You’re my best friend. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Katniss said he’s her best friend. That’s it. Today is officially the best day, of the best summer of his entire life. So of course he has to ruin it. Because at that moment Peeta decides to give her the thing that’s been burning a hole in his pocket for a week now. 

“Wait right there,” he says jumping to his feet, and grabbing her quiver. He takes the paper out of his pocket and carefully wraps it around the shaft of an arrow, tying it in place with a piece of twine. He turns back and offers it to her. “I made this for you, I hope you like it.” She takes it, looking confused. And then her eyes flash over his shoulder and she snatches up her bow. Before he can stop her she’s sending the arrow flying. And then she scowls.

“I missed. What did you do to that arrow to throw the balance off?” 

Feeling foolish, (why did he think it was a good idea to wrap it around an arrow anyway?) he shrugs. “Help me find it and I’ll show you.” They scour the forest floor, getting closer and closer to the fence that blocks them from Victor’s Village. 

“It’s no use. It must have gone over the fence. I hate losing arrows.” Katniss turns away, like losing that arrow over the fence is annoying, but not any big deal. And Peeta feels the first rush of panic in his chest.

“We have to get it back,” he says, climbing onto the fence. 

“What? Don’t be stupid,” she says, tugging on his ankle. “There’s no way we can get it back. It’s fine, I’m not mad.”

“NO! You don’t understand. We have to get it back!”

“Why, what’s the big deal?” His panic is communicating itself to her now, and she’s starting to look scared. Peeta takes a deep breath, trying to calm himself, but it’s no use.

“I wrapped something around the arrow. It was a drawing. Of you, with your bow.” She pales instantly. Peeta never knew that someone so brown could turn that pale. “And I wrote both our names on it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, lot's of excitement in this chapter. The believable development of a friendship between Peeta and Gale was one of my goals, so I hope that came off okay.  
> It may seem strange to find Gale approving of a relationship between Peeta and Katniss, but at this point he's not thinking of her romantically, and he's only been hunting with her for a few months, so he's not possessive of that relationship either. Peeta is a net gain in his eyes, (he brings extra food and labour) and he's beginning to like him as a person, so he has no reason to be against it.


	4. Chapter 4

“Let me get this straight. You drew a picture of Katniss, doing the most illegal of illegal things, put both of your names on it, tied to a arrow, for extra evidence or something, and then shot it over the fence into Haymitch Abernathy’s back yard?” Peeta nods miserably. Gale shakes his head in disgust. “And now, what, we’re supposed to get it back before he finds it? Have you forgotten about The Beast?”

The three of them are lined up across the tree branch that overlooks Victor’s Village. 

“Shut up Gale,” Katniss says, already annoyed with his smug attitude. “Either help us or get lost.” Gale sighs dramatically, but keeps quiet. They stare across at the arrow, where it lies so innocently on the grass. 

“Perhaps he won’t notice it,” Peeta suggests optimistically. Of course that’s the moment that The Beast comes out of the shadows and snatches it up. “Well maybe The Beast will chew it up and it’ll be gone,” as they watch the animal carry the arrow across the yard and delicately deposit it on the back step.

“Or perhaps you guys should just turn yourselves in now.” Gale offers. Katniss shoves him and scrambles down the tree in a huff. Gale rolls his eyes and follows after her. He towers over her, but she doesn’t seem to notice as she gets in his face and holds a whispered argument. Peeta can’t hear what they’re saying, but he sees the way Gale backs off. 

Once Gale and his brother’s have left, Katniss shimmies back up the tree. 

“Are you ready to go?” she asks. Peeta shakes his head. 

“I want to stay here and see if I can think of a way to fix this,” he says. She hesitates, but eventually leaves him to it. He stares over the fence until late in the afternoon. He has no ideas. He finally goes home because he’s on for closing, and he spends the next few hours flinching every time the bell rings on the door, certain that this time it’s the peacekeepers, coming to take him away. When nothing happens by bed time he’s a nervous wreck. 

Even though it’s as hot as ever above the bakery, Peeta can’t bring himself to sleep outside. If he was thinking logically he would know that the Peacekeepers will find him more quickly in his bedroom, But sleeping outside is so exposed. It feels safer inside the building. So he ignores his brother’s confused face and goes upstairs to sleep. 

He doesn’t sleep. He lies in bed and sweats and worries about what’s going to happen to him. To Katniss. Especially to her. Perhaps he can say it’s all his,and he drew that picture from his imagination, and the arrow was his. Would the peacekeepers believe that? What if the ask for the bow, he knows where Katniss keeps it now, but if he gave that up she wouldn’t have any way of getting meat. She could starve. Could he say he found the arrow? Would anyone believe that?

He must fall asleep eventually, because his father wakes him as usual. His head pounds and he feels queasy, but he gets up and takes his shift. He’s worked through worse.

Dayvid stumbles in earlier than usual, and Peeta feels his concerned looks, but the hustle of the early morning prep keeps him too busy to talk. Not that Peeta wants to bring another person in on this anyway. If no one knows what he did, then no one else can get in trouble. 

When his shift is over he’s out the door before anyone can try to talk to him. But he doesn’t know what to do, he doubts he’s welcome in the woods anymore, and he’s in a lonelier place than at the start of the summer. By now most town kids have probably forgotten he exists. 

His feet finally lead him to the meadow. He has no where else to go. 

Katniss is waiting for him and she looks mad. 

“What took you so long! I’ve been waiting forever.” While he’s trying to figure out what to say to that, she’s scrambling under the fence. She looks back at him in annoyance. “What are you waiting for? A Peacekeeper patrol?” He gulps at the idea and quickly follows her into the woods. 

“What took you so long?” she asks again, more gently, as the the trees close around them. “I had to send Gale and the kids ahead without us, they got tired of waiting for you.” He rolls his shoulders, uncomfortable.

“I didn’t think you’d want to see me, after what I did,” he says. She snorts. 

“I was the one who shot the arrow. I think we’re in this together. Besides, I have an idea, and I need your help.” He’s excited, until she explains her plan for him to make a lot of noise to attract the Beast’s attention, while she climbs the fence and goes after the arrow. 

“No way,” he says. “If someone is going over the fence, it should be me. I’m the one who was stupid enough to put that picture around an arrow, I was the one who wrote our names on it. I’m older and stronger. It should be me.” And she laughs at him.

“Peeta, you’re three months older than me. And I’ve seen you run. You’re slow. And you’re slow at climbing too. If you go over that fence we don’t have a chance. I can do it. I know it. My dad said I could.”

“Your dad? But, but,” he doesn’t want to say the words, but everyone knows her dad is dead. He died over six months ago. There’s no way he could be telling her anything. But she gives him a dreamy smile. 

“Last night, I saw my dad. He said he’s proud of me, and that you and I are going to do important things, as long as we always protect each other.” Peeta doesn’t know what to make of this. Her dad can’t really be talking to her in her dreams, but he can’t help wanting to believe that her dad likes him, trusts him to protect his daughter.

“That’s, nice and everything, but what does that have to do with getting the arrow back?” She rolls her eyes. 

“How can we do anything important if the peacekeepers catch us? So obviously we’ll get the arrow back. Plus dad told me a story about when I was little, and he brought me out here, and he turned his back for a moment and I was gone. And when he found me I was back at the fence. He said that was when he knew I was safe here, that nothing would ever catch me in the woods.”

It all sounds crazy to Peeta. Katniss had a nice dream about her dad, but it doesn’t help them get the arrow back, as far as he’s concerned. But he looks at Katniss. She’s glaring at him now, for doubting her. 

“You’re going to do this no matter what, aren’t you?” he asks, and she nods. “Fine. Tell me what to do.”

Fifteen minutes later he’s as far away from Haymitch’s backyard and the arrow as he can get, while still overlooking Victors Village. He’s hanging over the fence, banging on it with a stick. When he sees the dark shape moving toward him he tries to ignore the fear and focus on keeping Katniss safe. It’s only come half the way when he sees Katniss pop over the fence, and he groans in annoyance, she couldn’t wait a few more moments? He watches her run toward the arrow that still sits on the stoop, she’s so fast, and he knows she was right to insist that she do the running. 

But then, like it’s all happening in slow motion he sees the beast’s head turn back toward her, and it sees her, and it’s starting to run, and he’s screaming and trying to draw it back to him, and Katniss is scrambling up the fence as the creature gets closer and closer. He jumps down and starts running back toward the spot she should come out at, and as he reaches it she comes flying over, knocking him to the ground. 

They lay there for a moment, gasping for air. And then she leaps up and thrusts the arrow in the air triumphantly.

“I got it!” and Peeta is so angry all of a sudden. Because she was supposed to wait until it got close to him, and it nearly got her! 

“Promise you’ll never do anything so reckless again,” he demands, and she laughs, laughs so hard she falls back onto the ground. Peeta scowls at her. Doesn’t she understand how much she scared him? 

“I promise I won’t do anything that’s not needed,” she finally gasps, and he guesses that is the best he’s going to get, because he can’t imagine Katniss ever being able to stop doing crazy stuff to help her friends. And then her face goes pale.

“Peeta, don’t move,” she whispers, and before he can even think about what she means, she takes off running, AND THE BEAST IS RUNNING AFTER HER! It’s huge, and Peeta doesn’t know how it got over the fence, but it’s chasing her. It should be on her in a second, but it must be enjoying the hunt, because as she speeds away it seems content to lope along behind her. He’s still standing frozen, because what can he do? She’s sacrificed herself for him and he’s standing here like an idiot. 

Of course that’s the moment that Gale comes racing into the clearing, the three younger kids trailing behind. 

“What’s happened? Are you okay? I heard screaming.” Somehow Peeta manages to gasp out the events of the last fifteen minutes, and Gale curses. “I thought I could trust you to keep her safe!”

And then Katniss comes tearing back through the clearing, looking gloriously alive, the beast still behind her. 

“Gale,” she gasps, “the snare, get it ready,” and then she’s gone again. Gale takes of running in the opposite direction, and Peeta and the others follow along. They come to a stop at a larger than normal tree. 

And Gale yells to Peeta to “grab that,” and he looks around wildly before grabbing the rope on the ground hoping it’s what he’s supposed to do. He imitates Gale’s movements, and soon they have a rope net strung between the trees. Just in time too, as they hear Katniss and The Beast crashing toward them. 

Katniss comes into view first, and for a moment Peeta hopes that she lost it, but then The Beast is there thundering along behind. Gale yells something and Katniss seems to understand, because she darts through the small gap on Peeta’s side and stumbles to a stop as the beast blunders into the net, and Peeta’s arms are almost yanked off until he lets go, and the entire thing tangles around The Beast and it crashes to the ground. 

Silence, except for the sound of Katniss gasping for breath. Gale nudges the beast with his foot, and it rolls it’s eyes trying to look at him. It scrabbles a little, trying to get free, but then gives up, slumping back down and letting out a sad sounding whine. It doesn’t look like a beast anymore, just a big, sad dog.

“I think Sae will buy dog meat,” Gale says, and as if it knows what he said, the dog gives Peeta a pleading big eyed look. 

“No!” he yells. He clears his throat, feeling sheepish. “I mean, we can’t. We’d get in trouble. We have to take it back.” Gale snorts. 

“How?” And that is the problem. It’s too big to carry all tied up in the net, but if they release it… Peeta edges closer and puts his hand near it’s face. He startles back when it opens it’s mouth, but it only puts it’s tongue out. He cautiously moves his hand back, and instead of biting, it licks him. 

“I don’t think it wants to hurt us. I think we should take the net off and then lead it back.” Gale makes a sound of disbelief. 

“It’s your funeral. But I’m not sticking around for it. Come on Katniss.” But she plants her feet, and shakes her head. 

“I’m staying with Peeta. You take the kids and go. We’ll see you later.” And Gale leaves, not without a few glances of disapproval. Finally they’re gone, and Peeta looks at Katniss. 

“Are you sure you want to do this?” And she nods emphatically. They only have to release a few lines and the beast is struggling free. When it leaps to it’s feet it seems so huge again, not anything like the pathetic creature they had pinned a few moments ago. 

Peeta and Katniss freeze, and the dog shakes itself and then lunges toward Peeta, knocking him to the ground. He hears Katniss yell, but he’s giggling, as the massive tongue licks his face. He pushes against it and says “off,” and amazingly the dog obeys. 

“You were right,” Katniss says in awe. “How did you know?” Peeta grins, proud of himself.

“If he really wanted to eat you he wouldn’t have chased you all over. He would’ve just taken you down. I think he was trying to play with you.” Katniss makes a face.

“I wasn’t having much fun. But I suppose he didn’t know that.” 

Katniss loops a piece of rope through the dog’s collar, and they walk back to Victor’s Village. Getting the dog to follow them over the fence is easy. Stopping him from following them back over is much harder. 

“We have to knock on the door,” Katniss finally sighs. Standing on Haymitch’s porch, knocking on his door, (he has a fancy shiny knocker, so you don’t even have to use your fist!) is almost as terrifying as coming face to face with the beast. But Peeta reminds himself that was fine, not bad at all. Meeting Haymitch will probably be same. 

The door swings open and he’s right there in front of them. 

“What have you done to my dog?” he snarls, sounding more like a beast than his pet.

“I’m sorry sir, we, ah found him, and we tried to bring him back,” Peeta stammers out, “but he won’t stop following us. I’m sorry.” Haymitch switches his glare to the enormous dog. 

“Bad dog,” he snaps. “Get inside.” The dog cringes and slinks past him into the house. If he wasn’t so nervous it would be funny to see the enormous animal looking so contrite. Peeta can’t help craning his neck a little to see if it really is as luxurious in there as everyone says. “What are you still standing there for? Expecting a reward for bothering me? Get lost now and I won’t call the peacekeepers.” Peeta and Katniss give each other a wide eyed look and scramble off the porch as Haymitch slams the door. 

They don’t stop running until they are safely back in the woods. 

They lay side by side in the cool shade near the creek, catching their breath. Eventually Katniss takes out the arrow that she has somehow managed to hang onto, and carefully unrolls the drawing. She studies it for a long time, and Peeta feels himself turning redder and redder. She hates it, obviously.

“Is this what I look like to you?” she asks finally. He nods. “I look brave.” She rolls toward him and kisses his cheek, so quickly that he almost thinks he imagined it. “Thank you,” she whispers. They lay there in silence until Peeta tentatively reaches for her hand. 

“What’s going to happen when the summer is over?” he asks, feeling nervous. She rolls her head toward him, looking confused. 

“What do you mean?”

“I won’t be able to come to the woods much once we go back to school. Are you still going to be friends with me?” Katniss holds their hands up to the single beam of sunlight that has managed to cut through the canopy, and Peeta admires the contrast between her darker toned skin and his own pale pinkishness. 

“Of course. I don’t know how it’ll work, but I know that we’re going to be friends forever.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus ends the adventure! I have one more chapter to go, but it's basically a wrap up chapter.   
> Hope you enjoyed the chase and the first meeting with Haymitch. Let me know what you think.

**Author's Note:**

> I have taken some liberties with cannon here, made Katniss and Gale friends already, and their hunger situation a bit less dire, but I hope it works for the story I'm telling.  
> Oh and in case you were curious, the rhoda flower is a rhododendron, varieties of it are native to Appalachia, and flower in the summer. (and I think I now have a baby name, for this AU anyway)  
> There will be four more chapters, and they will be published over the next few weeks, so won't be stretching you out on this one.  
> Let me know what you think, the more specific the comments the more I love them!


End file.
